Trump Sues New York Times For $15 Billion
Donald Trump announced a new lawsuit against the New York Times on Monday, seeking $15 billion in damages for defamation and libel. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump accused the newspaper of being a "mouthpiece for the Radical Left Democrat Party" and of having "been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW!" The lawsuit, which was filed in Florida, comes days after the president had threatened to sue the publication for its reporting on an alleged note he had sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The White House has denied Trump's involvement in the note's creation.
The lawsuit against the Times is the latest in a series of legal actions Trump has taken against media outlets. Earlier this year, he launched a $10 billion defamation suit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting on the Epstein note and secured multimillion-dollar settlements from ABC News and Paramount’s CBS News to resolve his lawsuits against them. The New York Times, however, has stood by its reporting, with a spokeswoman stating last week that its journalists "reported the facts, provided the visual evidence and printed the president's denial."
This isn't the first time Trump has sued the New York Times; a judge dismissed a prior $100 million lawsuit against the newspaper and his estranged niece in 2023, ruling that the claims "fail as a matter of constitutional law." In a separate case that year, a federal judge also threw out a $475 million defamation lawsuit Trump had brought against CNN. His legal efforts, however, continue to escalate, with the president using legal action as a key tactic against media outlets he perceives as hostile.
